Inspection of the case revealed that there were no harmful sharp edges anywhere that I could see, so I went ahead and began installing everything. The first step was to install the motherboard but, to my surprise, I was immediately halted when trying to remove the stock I/O plate. The plate was very thick and looked to be composed of three layers of metal. It was jammed in pretty good, so I was forced to pry it off with a flat head screwdriver.

Other than that, installation was a breeze. I installed the motherboard, processor, heatsink and power supply, then proceeded to hooking up the front panel connections. One thing that bugged me was when I tried pulling the temperature probe (connected to the gauge) to the heat sink I found that it was only about 8 inches long! What point does it serve when it barely reaches half way across the motherboard? Much to my displeasure, I was forced to leave it hanging in the case instead.

I proceeded to the optical drive installation, which was very easy. Simply screw on the �pinch� rails and slide it in. I must say it has a very satisfying feeling to it!

The rest of the installation is the same as putting together any old case.

I finished assembling the case in about 2 hours, since I paid close attention to wire management, the art of making the components look appealing. If you are an average person, then it will take you significantly less time to put it together. Now the moment you all have been waiting for...

A very nice case, the gauges look wonderful and the fan controller works pretty well! You can tune down your fans by 50%, making them almost inaudible while having the analog gauge tell you what percentage they�re running! A problem came up when I plugged in a USB device in the front connectors and found that the connectors were very tough to plug in. If I try plugging them in, the ribs in the front of the case will bend almost to the point of breakage.

As far as case temperatures go, my old mid tower case saw temperatures as high as 34C with six case fans! This case never goes above 31C and my CPU temperatures, as a result, fell almost 5C! Very nice indeed!

Conclusion
I was expecting an awesome case, and that is exactly what I received! The case is very light and the case structure is very sturdy as there was no warping of any kind, even though it is made out of light aluminum. The hard drive cages are very nice and the drive rails work perfectly. I like the looks of the case, especially the analog gauges! There are no sharp edges and the innards of the case are constructed quite well with strength in mind.

The entire front panel is quite flimsy, being constructed out of plastic. The locks do not serve a real purpose other than looks. The front USB ports are very annoying when trying to plug something in. The temperature probe is quite short and makes me wonder whether Apevia even thought about that cable, as well as some of the fan cables. These are some minor annoyances though, as I think this is a very nice case for the price and I would give it a nine out of ten!